Assessment of pesticide use by commercial landscape maintenance and lawn care firms in Georgia

Questionnaires on pesticide use and pest management practices were mailed to landscape maintenance/lawn care firms in the metro-Atlanta area; 25.4% or 350 firms responded. Of these firms, 159 provide pest management services for turfgrass or ornamentals or both. Responding professionals purchased 13,210 kg AI of insecticides, 93,441 kg AI herbicide, and 3,867 kg AI of fungicides during 1993. Total area serviced by these firms was 14,770 ha. The most commonly-purchased insecticides included products containing hydramethylnon, acephate, chlorpyrifos, carbaryl, and horticultural oil. Frequently-purchased herbicides included products that contain pendimethalin, 2,4-D, glyphosate, MCPP, dicamba, oryzalin, benefin, and oxadiazon. Fungicidal products purchased by the most respondents were chlorothalonil, thiophanate-methyl, oxazoladinadione, matalayl, and triadimefon. Insecticides were most frequently applied to ornamentals (65%), while herbicides were the primary pesticide used on turf (93% preemergence, 79% postemergence). Fungicides were more evenly distributed. Prescheduled applications determined timing of application for 32% of respondents, while 46%, report that monitoring of pest populations influences treatment decisions. Only 8% of respondents incorporate monitoring of beneficial arthropods into this decision-making process.